What is this?

WINNIPEG — The high in Winnipeg Tuesday was 26 C, but some are still suffering from what can only be described as a winter hangover.

“It’s been an experience. It’s been quite an experience and we’re just waiting for this experience to end,” said Aynsley O’Donovan, a Winnipeg resident who’s had frozen pipes for 11 weeks. “It’s about time we get our water back.”

O’Donovan is among the nearly 500 property owners around the city in a similar situation. Although lucky enough to be hooked up to her neighbour’s water, she still has no idea when she’ll be using her own water again.

The problem: the frost is still more than a metre deep in places and now the city says all pipes won’t be thawed until at least the end of June.

O’Dononvan knows you can’t control mother nature but a lack of communication from the city is something that can be fixed.

“We’ve received almost zero communication from the city, from 311, from water and waste [department], from water services, from my city councillor, and I’ve yet to have a return call from Mayor Sam Katz in regards to my inquiry.”

The city has a different take.

“[The city hasn’t] had one complaint. We’re getting emails phone calls thanking you,” said Katz. “The department has been doing a great job.”

The city did look into borrowing thawing machinery from Brandon and Regina but both municipalities said the same thing: there’s nothing to lend.

So for now, O’Donovan, like hundreds of others, waits — caught in a winter limbo that seemingly has no end.

“It’s exceedingly frustrating. I don’t understand how I’m paying for a city service that I’m not yet receiving,” said O’Donavan. “I don’t understand how when we were first told it was going to be one to three weeks, now all of sudden it’s going on 11 weeks.”